Unloading tower



April 30, 1929- E. H. KIDDER UNLOADING TOWER Filed Sept. l926 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 W Attorne ,5,

April 30, 1929. E. H. KIDDER 1,710,798

UNLOADING TOWER Filed Sept. 1926 s Sheets-Sheet 2 !i v .i 1 E W L U Lave/72607" Ila/an fij'zdder April 30, 1929. E. H. KIDDER I UNLOADING TOWER 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed Sept. 1926 Invnor Ila/ink. Kidder Patented Apr. 30, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELWIN H. BIDDER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO LINK-BELT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

UNLOADING TOWER.

Application filed September 7, 1926. Serial No. 133,804.

My invention relates to improvements in unloading towers or hoisting mechanism for loading and unloading boats and the like. My invention is primarily intended for use in connection with coal handling apparatus wherein a bucket is swung out over a boat in the slip, lowered into the hold, lowered, hoisted, carried back out of line with the boat and then dumped. One of the objects of my invention is to provide a new and improved type of laterally projecting beam mounted on the tower which will be compact, sight-1y and inexpensive to manufacture. Another object is to provide an operating mechamsm whereby the lateral movement of the bucket may he provided. Other objects will appear from time to time throughout the specification and claims.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation;

Figure 2 is a section along of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section along the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section along the line H of Figure 1, with parts broken away; and

Figure 5 is a section along the line 5-5 of Figure 1, with parts broken away.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout.

A is a supporting tower which may be built exclusively for the purpose or may be some other part of the building as the case may be. Mounted on this tower is a workhouse comprising vertical columns A A A and horizontal beams A A. The structure of this workhouse may be of any suitable arrangement provided only that it has sufli cicnt strength to carry the load. Projecting laterally from the workhouse structure is a cantilever girder A. This cantilever girder carries the parallel tracks A A extending from the outermost part of the girder into the interior of the workhouse as indicated. Mounted on the bottom floor of the workhouse is a hoisting machine A and on an upper floor a trolley machine A". Beneath the workhouse mounted on the tower A is a hopper A this hopper being located beneath the inner ends of the track A. At either end of the tracks A are spring butter plates A A to limit the excursion of the trolley along the tracks.

the line 2-2 B is a main trolley wagon mounted on flanged wheels B B adapted to travel along the tracks A This trolley wagon hangs down on the wheels between the tracks and has the two sheaves B B over which are adapted to travel respectively the hoisting rope B and the hold rope B. B is an auxiliary3 trolley wagon mounted on flanged wheels 7 traveling along the tracks A. But this wagon is located primarily above the tracks. It has sheaves B B over which are respectively adapted to travel the hoisting rope B and the hold rope B". It'will be noted that the upper portion of the sheaves on the main trolley wagon are substantially in line with the lower portion of the sheaves or pulley wheels on the auxiliary trolley wagon. The hoisting rope and hold rope pass inwardly along the cantilever beam being supported by the sheaves B intermediate the ends of the beam to the ulley wheels B B on the vertical column in the workhouse and thence down to the drums B B in the hoist machine. These two ropes together support the hoisting bucket and manipulation of them permit automatic filling and emptying of the bucket. The bucket itself is shown diagrammatically as at D The details of the bucket and the means by which it is operated and controlled are not illustrated as its forms no part of the present invention.

The hoisting and hold ropes riding over the pulleys on the main trolley wagon and extending outwardly on the auxiliary pulley wagon tends when there is any tension on these ropes to move the main trolley wagon toward the outer end of the cantilever structure. This movement is resisted by the trolley rope C anchored on the main trolley wagon B, extending inwardly along the cantilever structure, guided by the roller or shaft 0 to the drum C in the trolley machine. The trolley rope is wound about this drum in a clockwise direction and is dead ended there- The hoisting and hold ro JQ-S extending outwardly from the tower and wrapped as they are around the sheaves on a the auxiliary trolley wagon and extending back inwardly as they do to travel around the sheaves on the main trolley wagon, exert a force tending to move the auxiliary trolley wagon inwardly toward the tower toward the track. This force is everted by the auxiliary trolley rope (l which is wound around the drum C in a counter clocluvisc direction and dead ended thereon. This rope extends out over the sheave C on the beam il along the cantilever arm, being guided by the pulleys (l to the ditl'crential drum G where it is wound around the larger diameter as at (l in a clockwisedirection. being dead ended thereon. The di'l'l erential. drum has on either side of the larger diameter section (l smaller drum sections (l all mounted together for rotation in unison on the shaft (i in the bracket C on the outer end of the cantilever. O is an etpialixing beam pivoted on the auxiliary trolley wagon 1%. Cables C C" extend from either end. of this equalizing beam and are wound about the smaller diameter of the ditlercntial drum in a counter clockwise direction, being dead ended thereon. The arrangement is such that 'whcn the ltllXllit y trolley rope is drawn in by the rotation of the drum (l in a counter clockwise direction, the differential drum is also rotated in a counter clockwise d ircction and the two ropes C leading from the difi'erential beam are wound in moving the auxiliary trolley wagon toward the outer end ot the cantilever arm. The relat"e proportions of the drum members C C is such that the auxiliary trolley wagon moves half as fastas the rope, that is, for each rotation of the drum G the ropes C move a distance equal to one-half the length of rope G which is wound about the drum (l Thus when the drum 0'' is rotated in a clockwise direction, it tends to move the trolley wagon to the left by winding up the trolley cable C. At the same time it pays out at the same rate of speed on the auxiliary trolley cable C" and permits the differential drum to rotate in a. clockwise direction. \Vhen this happens the auxiliary trolley wagon is permitted to move to the leftat a rate of speed half as great, half as fast, as the movement of the main trolley wagon. If the hoisting and hold ropes are held fast, movement of the main trolley wagon alone to the left with the auxiliary trolley wagon at rest would result in drawing up on the hoisting and hold ropes and raising the buckets at the same rate of speed as the movement of the main trolley wagon but since at the same time the auxiliary trolley wagon follows the main trolley wagon this tends to pay out on that part of the hoisting and hold ropes between the auxiliary trolley wagon and the tower and would tend to pay out the hoisting and hold ropes at the same rate of spec the movement of the an iliary trolley wagon. The differential movement of the two trolley wagons results in permitting them to move back and forth along the cantilever without paying out on the hoisting and hold ropes as far as the bucket is concerned and thus the buclzct can be moved laterally by maui uilalion of the trolley ropes without manipulation oi the hoisting and hold ropes.

The bucket can thus be iillcd by l0\\'ilil1 it into the hold of a vessel. manipulating the hoisting and hold ropes. The buchei can thus be hoisted until it is in a position above the level of the hopper A with the irollcv in the, position shown in the d aw! lbcn without :lurther manipulation o i hold rope, the trolley can be moved inwa dly. moving the bucket laterally until it hangs above the hopper without changing its level so that it can be dumped and its ('(HHQWF diiiicharged into the hopper.

It will be understood that this operation of the buclrct that the differential movcn'icnt of the two trolley wagons is such that the paying out of the rope caused by the movement of one is counter-balanced by the drawing in of the rope caused by the separation of the two wagons.

The relation between the main and auxiliary trolley ropes is such that at no time do the two trolleys actually come in contact because when they are in the position shown in the ligures with the auxiliary trolley at the ri hthand end of its excursion it is cushioned by the bumper bar and can go no further, thus the trolley ropes will not be paid out any further and the wagons are held in proper separated position.

When the wagons are in their inner position, the main trolley wagon is limited by the buffer and the auxiliary trolley wagon has gone half way in as indicated in dotted lines. The tension of the two trolley ropes is counterbalanced each by the other and by the pull of the. hoisting and holding ropes so that all that is necessary to manipulate the trolley is the electric motor shown at I) under the control of the operator by any suitable electric power not here shown. The hoisting and hold ropes are controlled through the motor D the control mechanism for which is also not shown as neither of these control mechanisms forms a part of my pres cnt invention.

It will be evident that while I have shown in my drawings an operative device, still many changes might be made in the size, shape, arrangement and disposition of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I wish, therefore, that my showing may be taken as in a sense dlagrammatic.

I claim:

1. A hoisting mechanism comprising a laterally extended track, a plurality of trolley wagons thereon, sheaves carried by said wagons, a fixed sheave at one end of the track, a hoisting engine, a hoisting rope extending from the engine over the fixed the reason t'w' sheave, thence along the track and over the sheave on the trolley wagon turthest from the fixed sheave, thence back over the sheave on the intermediate trolley wagon and thence down ard to a bucket. a trolley engine. a differential trolley drum rotatably mounted at the end of the track opposed to the fixed sheave, a trolley rope extending from the engine and wound about the larger radius of the drunn a difi'erential trolley rope Wound about the smaller radius of the drum and anchored on the trolley Wagon nearest thereto, a second trolley rope extending; in the opposite direction from the engine and anchored on the other trolley Wagon.

2. A hoisting mechanism comprising a boom, a track horizontally disposed tllGlQOIL trucks mounted for travel along the track. sheaves carried by the trucks and fixed sheaves mounted on the boom adjacent the inboard and the outboard ends of the track, a hoisting cable extending from the inboard sheave along the track about the sheave on the outboard truck, thence back about the sheave on the inboard truck and thence depending downwardly therefrom, a shifting mot-madjacentthe inboard end of the track, a shifting cable dead ended on the inboard truck extending thence inwardly to the shiftinn motor a second shifting cable extending from the shifting motor outwardly along, the track yvound about and dead ended on the outboard fixed sheave, a pair of drums associated with the outboard sheave of smaller diameter than the sheave and mounted for rotation therewith, cables dead ended on each of said drums and Wound about them and extending in parallel to and dead ended on the outboard truck.

Signed at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, this 23rd day of August, 1926.

'ELWIN H. KIDDER. 

